2. Background to The Crucible by Arthur Miller

3. Arthur Miller  Lived 1915-2005.  Considered to be one of the most influential American playwrights.  Did not read very much in high school. Father unable to pay for college.  Got a job in a car factory to pay his way. Read War and Peace, which inspired him to write.

4. Arthur Miller  Became journalist, gained popularity.  Wrote about social issues by using highly developed protagonists.  The Crucible received mixed reviews in its first running, but has since become his most produced play

5. Motivating factors  Chose to write about the Salem witch trials in order to make a statement about current social issue of widespread paranoia regarding Communism.  Was personally questioned before a congressional committee to answer questions about his involvement in the Communist party.  He had attended several meetings but refused to give the names of others who had attended.  Was found in contempt of court but this decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

6. McCarthyism  Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism growing in Eastern Europe and China.  Capitalizing on those concerns, a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than two hundred “card- carrying” communists had infiltrated the United States government.

7. McCarthyism  Though eventually his accusations were proven to be untrue, and he was censured by the Senate for unbecoming conduct, his zealous campaigning ushered in one of the most repressive times in 20th-century American politics.

8. Salem Witch Trials  The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in between February 1692 and May 1693.  By the time the hysteria had spent itself, 24 people had died.  Nineteen were hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem Town, but some died in prison.